Brian Glover (2 April 1934 – 24 July 1997) was an English actor and writer. He worked as a teacher and professional wrestler before commencing an acting career which included films, many roles on British television and work on the stage. His film appearances include Kes (1969), An American Werewolf in London (1981) and Alien 3 (1992).

Described by The New York Times as a "robust character actor" who played "gruff but likable roles", he had a "string of roles playing tough guys and criminals". He once said, "You play to your strengths in this game, and my strength is as a bald-headed, rough-looking Yorkshireman". Glover was also known as the voice of Gaffer in the Tetley tea commercials. The Independent described him upon his death as "one of Britain's best-loved actors".

Glover was born at the Women's Hospital, Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire and he lived in Sheffield until 1937 when his parents moved to Lundwood, near Barnsley. His father, Charles Glover, was a wrestler, performing as "the Red Devil". He attended Barnsley Grammar School and the University of Sheffield, where he supplemented his student grant with appearances as a professional wrestler, going under the ring name "Leon Arras the Man From Paris". He adopted that name from a wrestler who did not turn up to a match one night, for whom Glover stood in. His wrestling style incorporated a lot of comedy, including the catchphrases "ask 'im, ref" and "'ow about that then".

In 1954 he married his first wife, Elaine Foster, and became a teacher at the same Barnsley school where he had been a pupil. He taught English and French from 1954 until 1970, some of it at Longcar Central School, Barnsley, where he met Barry Hines, who was also teaching there. He managed to combine this with regular performances as "Leon Arras", whose appearances included bouts on World of Sport, and in Paris, Milan, Zürich and Barcelona.

Glover's first acting role came playing Mr Sugden, the comically overbearing sports teacher in Ken Loach's film Kes (a job offered to him when Barry Hines, who wrote the film, suggested him to the director). Although untrained, Glover proved to be a skilled and flexible character actor, using techniques learnt during his wrestling career. His large bald head, stocky build, and distinctive voice, with his Yorkshire accent, garnered him many roles as tough guys and criminals.

He played Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream (BBC TV, 1981) and had a recurring role in the classic sitcom Porridge as dim-witted prison inmate Cyril Heslop who, when accused of being illiterate, utters the memorable line "I read a book once! Green, it was." He played Quilp in The Old Curiosity Shop, and lent his voice to a number of animated characters, including the "gaffer" of the "Tetley Tea Folk" in a long-running series of television advertisements for Tetley tea, the voice behind the advertising slogan "Bread wi' nowt taken out" for Allinson bread, and the voice of "Big Pig", the mascot for the long-running Now That's What I Call Music! album series, appearing on the TV adverts for Now 3, Now 4 and Now 5. He also appeared in An American Werewolf in London, The First Great Train Robbery, Jabberwocky, Alien 3, Leon the Pig Farmer and as General Douglas in a Bollywood hit 1942: A Love Story. He appeared seven times in Play for Today, in three of them as part of a recurring trio of Yorkshiremen: The Fishing Party, Shakespeare or Bust and Three for the Fancy.

Glover's performance in Kes led to parts at the Royal Court Theatre, London, notably in Lindsay Anderson's The Changing Room (1971). A season with Britain's Royal Shakespeare Company followed, where his roles included Charles the wrestler (and, drawing on his wrestling experience, the fight arranger) in As You Like It, and a robust Peter in Romeo and Juliet. For the Royal National Theatre he appeared in The Mysteries (as God, creating the world with the help of a real fork-lift truck), Saint Joan and Don Quixote.

In the film Brannigan he claimed to have lost the only fight in his acting career, fighting John Wayne.